It is commonly desirable in biological laboratories to mount tissue sections, or ‘specimens’, to slides for purposes of examining the tissue sections using a microscope, treating the tissue sections with a stain or dye, and for other purposes. Conventional systems and methods for mounting specimens onto slides comprise placing tissue sections in a sufficiently deep water bath, with the specimens floating on the surface of the water. The broad side of a slide is then rested on the rim of the water bath and the slide is angled down into the water back such that the slide is partially submersed in the water. Subsequently, a small brush or glass capillary tube is used to manipulate a tissue section onto the slide. Typically, the slide is gradually drawn out of the water as additional tissue sections are arranged on the slide. In another variation of a conventional method, tissue is embedded in paraffin wax, sliced with a microtome, and then selected sections of the embedded tissue are transferred to a heated water bath. The hot water bath partially melts the paraffin about the specimens, and a glass slide treated with adherents is then used to scoop the tissue sections out of the hot water bath. Conventional methods of mounting specimens on slides are thus difficult, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.
There is thus a need in the biological research field for a new system and method for biological specimen mounting. This invention provides such a new system and method.